New robot controller next year?

[Dave Flowerday]

Originally posted by Sachiel7
Ok, I can understand the need for more EEPROM space, but I still see absolutely no need to get a faster processor. You're not running an extremely high-demand system, and the processor usually never has speed issues.

Maybe not for you. We have serious speed issues this year. Our drive system is very complicated and our autonomous is even worse (performing lots of trig, etc). One run through our main loop is taking something like 100ms. For a closed feedback loop system, that is awful. It's slow enough that drivers of our robot can detect a slight lag from when they change the controls to when the robot reacts. This problem will only get worse for us, and will start to affect other teams as autonomous gets more prevalent and more complicated (I'm almost certain auto mode will be back next year and will be an order of magnitude more challenging).

If you didn't already know, there are 3 Basic Stamps in the RC, 1 PIC (I think?) in each transceiver, and a few more in the OI.

There is only 1 BASIC Stamp in the whole system. The reason? The BASIC Stamp is a toy microprocessor. Don't get me wrong - it's great for programming by high school students and mentors without software experience, and most teams would be lost with anything else. But all the other work done in the system (i.e. the stuff that teams can't change) is done by real microcontrollers that are literally thousands of times faster than a Stamp.